Does Low Voter Turnout Matter? Evidence from Europe |
Voters and non-voters in European democracies often hold similar views. But when gaps emerge, they are not trivial and their impact depends on turnout.
π¨New blog post π¨
If fewer people vote, do elections still represent what policies citizens want?
I summarize research using data from 29 European democracies on whether voters and non-voters actually differ in their policy preferences and when turnout matters for representation.
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02.03.2026 02:34 β
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a hex sticker showing the autrian parliament with palace athene
Happy to release the initial version of ParlAT, an #rstats package wrapping the API of the Austrian Parliament @parlament.gv.at . If you are a researcher, student, journalist, simply someone interested in the AT Parliament, ParlAT hopefully comes as a helpful tool. werkstattcodes.github.io/ParlAT/
17.02.2026 07:20 β
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It must be very hard to publish null results
Publication practices in the social sciences act as a filter that favors statistically significant results over null findings. While the problem of selection on significance (SoS) is well-known in theory, it has been difficult to measure its scope empirically, and it has been challenging to determine how selection varies across contexts. In this article, we use large language models to extract granular and validated data on about 100,000 articles published in over 150 political science journals from 2010 to 2024. We show that fewer than 2% of articles that rely on statistical methods report null-only findings in their abstracts, while over 90% of papers highlight significant results. To put these findings in perspective, we develop and calibrate a simple model of publication bias. Across a range of plausible assumptions, we find that statistically significant results are estimated to be one to two orders of magnitude more likely to enter the published record than null results. Leveraging metadata extracted from individual articles, we show that the pattern of strong SoS holds across subfields, journals, methods, and time periods. However, a few factors such as pre-registration and randomized experiments correlate with greater acceptance of null results. We conclude by discussing implications for the field and the potential of our new dataset for investigating other questions about political science.
I have a new paper. We look at ~all stats articles in political science post-2010 & show that 94% have abstracts that claim to reject a null. Only 2% present only null results. This is hard to explain unless the research process has a filter that only lets rejections through.
11.02.2026 17:00 β
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New and open access, in @psrm.bsky.social: What happens when we make politicians draw distributions? Nic Dias, @jacklucas.bsky.social and I explore whether the large errors politicians make about public opinion are artificially inflated by how researchers ask them to estimate it /1
cup.org/4kltoyE
03.02.2026 12:04 β
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How Many People Have Been Shot in ICE Raids?
The Trace is tracking gun incidents connected to Trumpβs immigration crackdown. Know of one? Please be in touch.
The victim of today's ICE shooting in Minneapolis is the 5th person to be shot and killed by federal immigration agents since President Trump began his crackdown last year.
This is the 19th time they've opened fire.
We're tracking incidents here:
24.01.2026 18:34 β
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F.B.I. Agent Who Tried to Investigate ICE Officer in Shooting Resigns
Breaking NYT:
The FBI agent who sought to investigate the federal immigration officer who fatally shot Renee Good has resigned from the bureau, according to two people familiar with the matter, after leadership pressured her to discontinue a civil rights inquiry into the officer.
23.01.2026 23:15 β
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The worst and most cartoonish application of the Let Them theory
22.01.2026 15:34 β
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ICE ended up returning the man, Saly, after realizing heβs a fucking US citizen with no criminal record, per his sister-in-law. These fucking animals.
19.01.2026 05:41 β
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Was haben wir 2025 ΓΌber Politik in Γsterreich gelernt?
Ein π§΅ mit 10 Publikationen aus dem abgelaufenen Jahr ...
29.12.2025 17:16 β
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NATHAN P. KALMOE AND LILLIANA MASON
RADICAL
AMERICAN
PARTISANSHIP
MAPPING VIOLENT HOSTILITY, ITS CAUSES, AND THE CONSEQUENCES FOR DEMOCRACY
Sure does seem to capture the vibe
10.09.2025 20:56 β
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As scary as this moment is, remember that support for political violence went DOWN after the July 2024 assassination attempt against Trump, not up www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
We need to make the same thing happen this time.
10.09.2025 21:13 β
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Very grateful to my supervisors and to the committee for a great discussion!! π
11.07.2025 07:24 β
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For a data collection we want to launch soon, we're looking for a German speaker who could translate our survey instrument to German. This should only take a few hours of work. Of course we are remunerating! Interested? Please reach out to @alexjabbour.bsky.social !
03.07.2025 09:24 β
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Thrilled to share that "The Meanings of Voting for Citizens" is out with OUP!
Loved working on this with brilliant mentors, co-authors, and friends
π The book (open access) explores how people think about voting and how these meanings influence participation
π And the dataβs open too via AUSSDA
30.06.2025 13:14 β
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βΌοΈ There are a few more days left to apply for the PhD positions in my group at KU Leuven. Make sure to send in applications by July 4! π
30.06.2025 06:57 β
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Doing important things at @epsanet.bsky.social β¦like locating the one veg canapΓ© at the reception π
@stawi-univie.bsky.social
@bseisl.bsky.social
@mkaltenegger.bsky.social
@alexanderdalheimer.bsky.social
@marvins.bsky.social
@elenaheinz.bsky.social
@mascakir.bsky.social
@thomasmmeyer.bsky.social
27.06.2025 22:59 β
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The schedule of the presenters from the EPSA2025
From 26 to 28 June 2025, the 15th Annual Conference of the European Political Science Association will take place in Madrid, Spain. Many of our colleagues will attend the conference and present their research. #EPSA2025. The presenters are: π§΅ 1/3
25.06.2025 14:14 β
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π¨Preprint alertπ¨
How does affective polarization change democracy? Lots of pubs study how AP affects trust, democratic norms, inter-partisan attitudes, and participation.
We (w/ @polpsychjoe.bsky.social, @lilymasonphd.bsky.social) examine a vital assumption this research seems to rely on:
1/6π§΅
24.06.2025 13:43 β
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Doctoral scholarship holders in political science | University of Antwerp
YUFE vacancies
π§΅ Hiring 2 PhDs in political science!
Join my ERC project DEMO-LIES
@uantwerpen.be
π§πͺ
We study how politicians accuse each other of lying/disinfo β and how citizens react: Does it erode trust? Polarize? Mobilize? π§ π³οΈ
π₯ 4-yr fully funded
π
Start: Oct/Nov 2025
ποΈ Deadline: 21 Aug
Details + apply π
24.06.2025 16:05 β
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Continuing on the same theme, Sylvia Kritzinger will present our paper (w/ @schnizzl.bsky.social) on how politicians' response style (humble or dismissive), gender, and voters' sexism condition voter reactions to political blunders. Saturday 9:30 (Room 0A.10) π₯
24.06.2025 14:41 β
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Are independent ministers judged more harshly for corruption? Are women and ethnic minorities held to different standards? How do party and demographic cues interact? I will present work from my dissertation Friday at 15:00 (Room -1.A.02) π₯
24.06.2025 14:41 β
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Heading soon to #EPSA2025 πwith 3 papers:
π§ w/ @mkaltenegger.bsky.social @laurenzennser.bsky.social
When do parties want experts and when do they want outsiders? We unpack parties' strategic appointments in response to crises. Come see our new measure of expertise Thursday at 13:10 (Room 0A.10) π§
24.06.2025 14:41 β
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Proportion of Papers by Year and Team Type
Excited to kick off #EPSA2025 on Day 1, Panel 1! π
Iβll present my co-authored research with @michaelimre.bsky.social on 50 years of gender representation in political science publications. We analyze nearly 100,000 articles across 72 journals to uncover long-term trends. π
@epsanet.bsky.social
24.06.2025 10:13 β
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